Welcome!

1. Yes, you can expect prices to rise annually with inflation. I’m not sure exactly when the price rises will be, but quite probably before April. So if you buy now, you can avoid the price rise. There’s often a sale during the end of November, so keep an eye open for that discount.
2. Don’t use the Eurail app or website for planning, the timetables are often out of date. Try searching on bahn.com/en which is much more up to date
3. As above, the Eurail timetable isn’t always up to date
4. You can make reservations without activating the pass. You have to add all trains to your app before you travel, but it doesn’t need to be done far in advance.
5. Really good info here: https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm
6. Yes, read that page on Seat61, and this one, which explains the pass really well. Post your itinerary here, and other travellers can help you with any specific questions/ problems  https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

Frankfurt - Amsterdam
Yes, DB is good. Avoid Eurostar if possible, because they charge expensive reservation costs.

Amsterdam - Brussels
Again, avoid Eurostar. There’s a good Intercity service, which is slightly slower

Brussels - Paris
You probably need to use Eurostar on this route. The alternative (if you’re travelling with a Eurail pass) is much slower and indirect.

Paris - Bern
Option 1: Direct TGV to Basel, then Swiss trains to Bern. Quite an expensive reservation cost, but fastest.

Option 2: TGV to Strasbourg or Mulhouse then TER to Basel then Swiss trains. Cheaper, because you only have to pay for the domestic TGV reservation, but slower.

You should be able to find all these routes by searching on bahn.com/en. Let us know if you have any problems.

Paris - Bern also has a few options via Frasne. Also with the cheaper domestic TGV reservation.

Thanks everyone for helping me out.

1. As mentioned about Black Friday sale - when this is coming out? and is it FCFS basis?
2. My routes on EU Rail planner website shows no reservations for Frankfurt to Netherlands, Netherlands to Brussels and Bern to Salzburg. 
3. Only reservations are showing for Brussels to Paris and Paris to Bern as you guys mentioned this is one of expensive route and I can take alternatives but they are longer, I will look into it once I have purchased the pass.
4.  To confirm - EU rail pass covers all Inter City trains in Netherlands (Zaandam, Giethoorn, Amsterdam etc), Belgium (Bruges, Ghent), Switzerland (Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Brienz, Zermatt etc ), Austria (Salzburg, Innsbruck, Hallstat etc) as I can see these routes are coming on EU planner website under EU rail pass and I assume all these trains are covered under EU rail pass
5. Also any suggestions if Bernina express is best one to cover as I see its only closest to Bern I am staying and I can cover it from Zweisimmen to Montreux and come back via intercity from Montreux to Bern. I see this is fully covered under EU rail pass except I need to book reservation with small fee?

1. No idea, subscribe to the news letter and you’ll get a notice once it’s there.
2. Indeed, to be precise they have optional reservations. Potentially obliged reservations in the busy summer months (june-august). Recommended to get some on busy days, but very moderate reservation cost (get them via www.bahn.com or www.oebb.at - click seat reservation only)). Reservations in Swizerland are a waste of money, since nobody reserves them anyway.
3. Indeed, although you can minimise reservation cost by taking Belgian regional trains from Brussels to Lille, and take a TGV from there. Same for Switzerland, if you take a TGV to the last French stop, like Mulhouse, Lyon, Frasne, Strasbourg and continue by reservation free regional trains, you can save quite a bit of money, with limited extra travel time.
   
   Tip: there’s an extra non-high speed connection coming from Brussels to Paris from December 15, unfortunately not included in the pass. But prices should be quite affordable. A full fare ticket shoudn’t cost much more, or probably will be cheaper, than just the cost of a reservation of a Brussels-Paris Eurostar… No further information about this so far, but will be available in the coming days/weeks. Ask us again half december :)
   
   If you are very adventurous, you can even take reservation free French regional trains (TER) all the way, but this will take much longer, doesn’t have the best connections.
   
   Anyway, whatever option you feel like, feel free to ask us when planning this, it’s easy to get lost in all the options :)
    
4. All covered. The pass validity is per company, not per line or specific train. If a company is participating, you can take all of their trains, from the most important IC-lines, to some obscure regional lines. You can find the list here: https://www.eurail.com/en/plan-your-trip/trip-ideas/trains-europe/useful-train-information/participating-railway-companies . I’lld say about 95% of all European trains are covered, with some exceptions for some private operators, the parisian Suburban railways and some touristic railways .
    
5. You can take the Bernina express route without the need for reservations with ordinary regional trains and some extra changes. The front three carriages (non-panoramic) of the Bernina Express are reservation free as well. Use www.sbb.ch/en to plan this.
   Don’t be afraid of short transfers in Switzerland, 3 minute connections are made to work. On these regional trains you can open the windows fully and take some wonderful pictures.

4. Giethoorn doesn't have a railway station. You can get a bus from Steenwijk.

Thank you for letting me know about station on Giethoorn.

I checked the trains from Amsterdam to Brussels and if I filter pass trains only, it give most of trains as reservations required, is this the case? I only see couple of them take longer a bit doesn’t need reservations.

Also I see for buses from EU rail to places like Giethoorn, do we need to take a bus pass or just one ticket works? Can i take tickets inside the bus and pay via my card where ever I am taking local transport and where I need bus from station to go? Same applies in all countries where I may need to take local bus from station to reach there?

I also see sale is on for global pass at 25% until 17 December, is it anytime I can buy before this date or is it subject to availability? 

There is an hourly reservation-free train from Amsterdam Zuid to Brussels. You can use metro or tram to get to Amsterdam-Zuid, or use a train from Amsterdam Centraal and change at Schiphol.

You can pay in the bus with a contactless card. You have to tap in AND out. For just 1 return, it's not worth buying a pass. Check timetables on 9292.nl. That website has all public transport in the Netherlands. You can also enter an address to travel from or to. All public transport in the Netherlands can be used in this way with a contactless card. In other countries, it depends. There is no general answer.

The passes in the current sales don't have limited availability. You can wait until the last day to buy your pass if you want.

Anuj, The Blackfriday sale is until Dec 17th and It is not First Come First Serve Basis. You can buy the pass and use it within a year or check the Black friday sale Terms and Conditions about the usage of the pass.

Hi All, I have one last quick question before I buy the pass for next year travel.

1. Is First Class worth it Vs Second class?
2. Does First Class works only on Country trains and not Regional trails?
3. My Inter Country routes are Frankfurt - Amsterdam, Amsterdam - Brussels, Brussels - Paris, Paris - Bern, Bern - Austria, Austria - Frankfurt
4. Based on #3, if I have to travel within countries using Regional trains and pass network only - I see there are loads of trains I can use for EU rail pass and explore my pass much value within countries - does this have First or Second Class? Example - Bern to Interlaken, Bern to Zermatt, Amsterdam to Giethoorn, Brussels to Bruges, Salzburg to Innsbruck?

1. Hmmm, that’s really dependent on the type of train. But on the long distance services, it’s usually quite nice. More legroom, quieter atmosphere, wider seats. In some companies you can order food and drinks at your seat.
2. Works on all trains (although not every train has a first class, mainly regional trains in France, Trenord in Italy, and some typical commuter trains around big cities...). By the look of it, I think all of your trains you plan to take will have first class.
3. Usually nice trains with good first class options.
4.  The same, usually nice trains with a comfy first class.
   
   More info: https://www.seat61.com/european-train-travel.htm#first-or-second-class , also check out the country specific pages on seat 61. Lot’s of pictures of some trains in second and first class if you want to make an informed decision .
   https://www.interrail.eu/en/magazine/did-you-know/benefits-first-class-train-trave
   
   P.s. With the current discount on passes, I’ve treated myself  a nice first class pass, so go for it, I’lld say ;)

Thank you for suggestions. I am also planning to buy first class to have good space and also a little cheaper with discounts tend me to buy that first class pass. 
to confirm further 

1. when you say its nice and comfy, does this apply to inter city trains as well (excluding Paris and the ones you mentioned? I.e the countries I mentioned above 
2. If there are no reservations needed as I see most of my countries route doesn’t need except 1-2 routes. Considering I don’t need a reservation for maximum routes, will I get easy 2 seat space in first class in all trains with no issues of crowd traffic?

1. IC (intercities) are considered as long distance, so yes. Worth it to go for first.
   Note that Belgium and the Netherlands are small countries and their first class is more comparable to rather average regional trains. But most of your journey you’ll be going for long distance trains like ICE (Germany), TGV (France) or Railjet (Austria). Like I said, the first class is worth it on 95% of your routes. Just maybe not on the Brussels-Bruges one, depending on the type of train. But that’s barely an hour on the train.
2. Seems doable, April won’t be that busy. If you plan to travel around or in the Easter weekend/holidays (weekend of april 20 and monday 21). I would reserve on Fridays and maybe weekends. A lot of people will be travelling then, so better reserve trains with optional reservations.
   Otherwise you won’t have any issues finding seats for two persons.

1. Thank you again.
   I will be travelling before Easter weekend , would that be busy on trains and should I reserve seats in optional reservations trains as well or leave it as is if I go with first class? Note - I won’t be there on Easter weekend. 

2. For the trains on eu rail pass network, if I just add those to a pass, I can board that train in first class and take any available seat in non reservation/optional seats? How soon I need to come and board inter country trains before departure time?
3. is there a chance I don’t get a seat in first class in non reservation/optional seats trains? 
4. what is the weather in these countries- is it cold and wet in April

Hi All,

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all who have helped me so far. I have received very good knowledge here on this topic I had created few weeks back. I appreciate everyone who helped me out to make my trip planning and passed guide a bit easier than when I started the discussion. I can see now I am going at least in some right direction which is Enlighted by the community members here.

1. Quick question, those fully refundable passes can be activated on the day I need to travel and no need to be done in advance? - I just need internet to activate and add the journey to the trip created and before boarding, I need to add that journey to the pass so basically its 2 way additions - add journey to the trip and then to the pass to show ticket?

2. What does this refundable and exchange means - I understand the 100% refund with plus plan could be done 11 months from purchase date, what does exchange means?

1. Correct.
2. The refund/exchange policy is explained here:
   https://www.eurail.com/en/eurail-passes/ordering-info/refund-exchange-policy
   There are no refund fees if you buy here:
   https://allaboard.eu/eurail
   I don't have any experience with them yet though.

1. Nah, I wouldn’t worry that it’ll be too busy in that period. On the websites of the train operators (*), you can check expected how busy the train will be. In Switzerland in certain stations, you can even see if the trains crowded on the announcement panels on the platform.
2. Correct!
   How much time before boarding? Remember you’re taking trains, not planes. There are no security checks or other secutainment.
   Otherwise Arriving about 20 min before your departure time in the station is more than enough time to find your platform and grab something to drink or eat.
   Only in France you can expect a pre boarding ticket check, so allow maybe 5 minutes extra time to board there. Most trains only stop for 2 minutes in the station, arriving earlier doesn’t really matter. 
3. Maybe, but only a small chance. You can sit in second class with a first class ticket  ofcourse, should a train be full in first. But this happens rarely.
4. Hmmm. Difficult to tell. Sometimes it snows in April, sometimes you can expect the first sunny and warm spring days with temperatures close to 20° C. Be prepared for every weather type and check the weather again when packing.

*Note: links to the train operators websites

Netherlands/Dutch train operator: www.ns.nl/en 

Belgian train operator: https://www.belgiantrain.be/en

German train operator: www.bahn.com 

Austrian train operator: www.oebb.at/en 

Swiss train operator: www.sbb.ch/en 

French train operator: www.sncf-connect.fr/en (bad website, best don’t use it to plan)

Websites in bold are the best to plan for international journeys. They should have the timetables of almost all European railway companies included in their planners.

Thank you again. All clear

technically it will be a loss of money and comfort if I have to go to second class with first class ticket if first class is full. But like you said it’s rare. 
 

do we have a list of lounges at which stations can we use them using first class pass?

Yes, but only a couple of lounges.

Some countries yes, some no, some don’t have any lounges.

Yes: UK, Austria, Netherlands (only one lounge in Amsterdam C), Czechia, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Portugal

No: Germany, France, Spain, Italy (the biggest countries unfortunately)

Others may be able to expand that list, never used them myself actually.

I also updated my previous post with the websites of the national operators, in case you want to check the “expected crowd function” or use them for journey planning.